Xmas lights on pushie??

[gaza]

I have no idea about electronics but have heard this is a most knowledgable
group and very helpful

Problem:
I have organised a community night cycle ride touring the local house light
displays.

I have offered a prize for the best lit bike.

Looking at all the lights available and they all seem to run off a small
transformer?

What ideas can you come up with that can be battery powered?????


Criteria.
1) Must be cheap
2) Must be run off batteries ( no 5k extension cords)
3) Must be assembled by complete novices using safety pins, gaffa tape etc
4) Anything on the spokes/wheels must be contained and powered within the
rotating wheel
5) Only needs to last for about 3 hours max.


Thanks.........

 

[Terry Collins]

gaza wrote:

Criteria.
1) Must be cheap

define cheap?

2) Must be run off batteries ( no 5k extension cords)

How much weight are you prepared to carry?

3) Must be assembled by complete novices using safety pins, gaffa tape etc
4) Anything on the spokes/wheels must be contained and powered within the
rotating wheel

Silicon chip has a project for a in-whell message flasher.

5) Only needs to last for about 3 hours max.

Well, you just need a cheap set of lights with parallel wiring
and a car battery { or SLA, or?

Alternatively, make your own from leds.

 

[Martin]

"gaza" <lazydaysREMOVEPANTIES@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:316tjuF37vqa4U1@individual.net...

I have no idea about electronics but have heard this is a most knowledgable
group and very helpful

Problem:
I have organised a community night cycle ride touring the local house
light
displays.

I have offered a prize for the best lit bike.

Looking at all the lights available and they all seem to run off a small
transformer?

What ideas can you come up with that can be battery powered?????


Criteria.
1) Must be cheap
2) Must be run off batteries ( no 5k extension cords)
3) Must be assembled by complete novices using safety pins, gaffa tape etc
4) Anything on the spokes/wheels must be contained and powered within the
rotating wheel
5) Only needs to last for about 3 hours max.


Thanks.........

Most of the low-volt lights that run off a transformer actually only run off
about 10 volts or so, and although the transformers are usually AC output a
light bulb will work fine on AC or DC, so get some low-voltage fairly lights
and then connect up batteries to reach the desired voltage. Dick Smith and
others have various battery cases so you could configure say 7 D size batts
in series would give 10.5V out (perhaps also double up in parallel to give
extra capacity??), or maybe even gelcell 12V battery....

Of course, LED lights would be better on battery voltage and would last
much, much longer. Again Dick Smith and such have various LED lights and
configurations, and these will all run fine off batteries (better than
normal fairy light globes).

 

[Arpit]

When I used to ride at night, I kept a 7Ah gel cell in a bottle
holder, connected to 2 neones on the tubes and a 55 watt halogen
headlight. Didnt last for all that long, but noone ever cut me off.

On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 08:06:34 +1000, "gaza"
<lazydaysREMOVEPANTIES@bigpond.net.au> wrote:

I have no idea about electronics but have heard this is a most knowledgable
group and very helpful

Problem:
I have organised a community night cycle ride touring the local house light
displays.

I have offered a prize for the best lit bike.

Looking at all the lights available and they all seem to run off a small
transformer?

What ideas can you come up with that can be battery powered?????


Criteria.
1) Must be cheap
2) Must be run off batteries ( no 5k extension cords)
3) Must be assembled by complete novices using safety pins, gaffa tape etc
4) Anything on the spokes/wheels must be contained and powered within the
rotating wheel
5) Only needs to last for about 3 hours max.


Thanks.........

 

[David L. Jones]

gaza wrote:

I have no idea about electronics but have heard this is a most
knowledgable
group and very helpful

Problem:
I have organised a community night cycle ride touring the local house
light
displays.

I have offered a prize for the best lit bike.

Looking at all the lights available and they all seem to run off a
small
transformer?

What ideas can you come up with that can be battery powered?????


Criteria.
1) Must be cheap
2) Must be run off batteries ( no 5k extension cords)
3) Must be assembled by complete novices using safety pins, gaffa
tape etc
4) Anything on the spokes/wheels must be contained and powered within
the
rotating wheel
5) Only needs to last for about 3 hours max.


Thanks.........

How about NO batteries?
Tape dozens of chemical "glow sticks" all over the bike. Could look
really cool if you put them on the spokes :->
They come in a range of colours and are fairly cheap if you get them in
bulk from the $2 shops or ebay.

Dave